I’ve been busy.

Really! I’m serious!

Anyway, the point is that I have no new pictures of Kat and Kit, so instead I’m giving you pictures of Slate.

Slate was my parents outside cat, and at 17 decided she was NOT going to be an outside cat anymore. Since my mom refused to have an inside cat, Slate came to live with us. Kat and Kit were not happy with this turn of events, but as Slate did little more than lie on our laps to be petted, and sleep, it wasn’t that much of a hardship.

She died at the age of 18.

Man tries to rob store with empty jello box.

“He said he didn’t expect them to have a lot of money, but decided to rob them anyway. He wanted some money for gasoline and cigarettes,” James said. “It was really kind of silly. I don’t know what the heck he was thinking.”

So, I had $50 in Amazon Reward Certificates, so I decided to order a Flip.

I’m shocked at how easy it is to used, and pleased with the quality I’ve gotten–just on the first day of playing with it.

(more…)

hello
1883, alt. of hallo (1840), itself an alt. of holla, hollo, a shout to attract attention, first recorded 1588. Perhaps from holla! “stop, cease.” Popularity as a greeting coincides with use of the telephone, where it won out over Alexander Graham Bell’s suggestion, ahoy. Central telephone exchange operators were known as hello-girls (1889).

“Hello, formerly an Americanism, is now nearly as common as hullo in Britain (Say who you are; do not just say ‘hello’ is the warning given in our telephone directories) and the Englishman cannot be expected to give up the right to say hello if he likes it better than his native hullo. [H.W. Fowler, “A Dictionary of Modern English Usage,” 1926]

Why am I sharing this?

Because Shawn somehow managed to remind me of this:

‘Heaveno’ has received one heck of a response

KINGSVILLE, Texas (AP) – A South Texas man who campaigned to replace ”hello” with ”heaveno” has had plenty of opportunities to use his new greeting.

Kingsville resident Leonso Canales Jr. has been inundated with telephone calls since he successfully lobbied Kleberg County commissioners last month to designate ”heaveno” as the county’s official greeting.
…
Still, Matthews said, he wants recognition as a pioneer in taking ”hell” out of ”hello.”

Which led to the discovery of this.

Which lead to this comment by Shawn:

I’m like, “I already read this, HeavenO…”

Just got back from Tygart Lake where my Aunt, Uncle, and cousins were vacationing.

Got to see the twins.

Fun evening.

Very tired.

Work tomorrow.

Must got to bed.

Here are some more answers to the questions various and sundry asked of me. I’ll think I’ll keep taking questions through the week, so feel free to ask other questions in the comments.

matt asked:
Of all the images and quotes that pop up in your banner, which are your favorites?

Of all the quotes, my favorites are the ones that end up in my sig files, like this one: “I believe in coincidence. Coincidences happen every day. But I don’t trust coincidences.” –Garak (Deep Space Nine)

But I’m also fond of the political quotes, and of course this is another favorite: “Always keep a song in your heart; it’s like karaoke for the voices in your head.”

As far as the banner images, it really depends on my mood, but I think my current favorites are my brother taking a picture of me taking a picture of him, the oreos (That picture turned out so well! Yum!), and the Crushing Hazard.

As much as I like the flowers, I like things that make me laugh, better. But banners are a good place to show off my flower pr0n.

Jeri asked:
Didn’t the toaster hole up and eventually evolve into Blink?

I think the major issues with the Toaster were post Blink and Not-Blink.

Though as the Toaster manifested in Nathan’s apartment on its own, it may well be directly related to the key Jim had taken away from him.

Or, it may well be Blink.

matt asked:
It’s terribly cliched, but what three albums would you want if you were on a desert island that somehow had a working stereo system but no other electronics?

Well, first and foremost would be Bob Mould’s Workbook. That is hands down my all time favorite album.

The next two are harder. Maybe a Wynton Marasalis album–something without lyrics. Last fall we saw him on tour with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, and that was fantastic. Nice variety. Of course I don’t actually possess one of those albums right now, and what I’d really probably want is a recording of one of his many radio shows.

The third album would probably be an Aaron Copland compilation album.

Why the emphasis on lyric free music? Because I’ve got enough music with lyrics running around my head I can easily sing whatever I want. But if I really want to listen to music, that’s what I think I want.

Though what I’d really rather have is the Real Jazz channel on XM. :)

I didn’t get 18k steps today because I was running all over creation at work.

Nope, today I got the upper body workout, as I took the break before classes start to organize and rearrange our stock room. (My boss has been promising to do this for three weeks, but hasn’t had the time. I decided to take a GA and get it done before break is over.)

We moved cases of paper (around 20) from one room to another and stacked them about six high against the wall, moved about 20 boxes of toner (much lighter!) from one room to another, moved metal cabinets around, piled (insanely heavy and awkward to move) keyboard trays atop an empty cabinet, and hauled about 15 computers and monitors from one room to another.

If nothing else, my job has plenty of variety to keep my healthy. (Tomorrow’s goal? Sitting at my desk with my feet up.)

Wraps

Since my grandmother doesn’t eat spicy foods, we don’t get to make these much anymore. Which is too bad, because they’re really good.

Chicken breast / thighs
Oil
3 – 5 cloves garlic
Several tablespoons chopped onion
~ 1 tsp Oregano
~ 1/2 tsp Cilantro
~ 1 tsp Cumin
~ 1/2 to 2 tsp Chili powder
Salt
Pepper
~1 tbsp lemon juice
~2-3 tbsp lime juice
Melinda’s Mango sauce, or other hot sauce
Taco or Spanish rice
Sharp cheddar cheese
Chopped lettuce
Chopped tomato
Spicy ranch dressing
Wraps (whole grain wraps are really good)

Make the rice. (If I had a recipe for the rice I might make it by hand. I don’t so I just use one of the packages.)

Heat sauté pan. Add oil. Add garlic and onion. Sauté for a few minutes (I tend to use frozen onion, so I sauté until the pan stops spitting at me.). Raise temperature and then add the chicken. Sauté the chicken until done. Add spices, lemon juice and lime juice. Turn chicken to low until rest of ingredients are ready.

Heat wraps.

Put everything together: chicken layer, rice layer, cheese layer, lettuce, tomato, and then spicy ranch dressing.

Eat.

I think I have fixed all the things I broke will trying to improve my blog.
Widgets seem to be working fine, the sidebar seems to be working fine, and I can again access the Administrative portion of the site (which I couldn’t do for awhile. Grrr…)
However, I did discover that when I converted to Word Press lo those many years ago, I forgot to copy the archives from my only weblog, when I was coding by hand, and need to recreate links to those files.
Bah.
But it would be a lot worse.

Anyone around here write ’em?

I added ’em to my sidebar, but I have things in my sidebar that are not fodder for widgets, and need to change this.

Here are some more answers to the questions various and sundry asked of me. I’ll think I’ll keep taking questions through the week, so feel free to ask other questions in the comments.

Vince asks:
How did you decide on your career choice?

I didn’t. In fact, I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up. I fell into my job quite by accident. I was working in a microbiology lab in NIOSH and although I loved my co-workers, I didn’t like the work I was doing at all (PCR & cell culture = BORING!), so I took my current job as a stop over until I decided what I really wanted to do, since microbiology wasn’t it. Although things were rocky for awhile, and in the intervening years did the classwork for my MPH (Masters in Public Health) I’ve actually come to enjoy my job in recent years.

I’ve developed a unique skill set, and for my job I get to do a variety of tasks, almost all of which I thoroughly enjoy: teaching, writing, and problem solving.

So if I decided to move on from this job, I have no idea what I’d do next, because I don’t think there are many other jobs out there like mine.

Anne asks:
How did you meet Michael?

Well, it’s kind of a strange story. My boyfriend, roommate and I ran a local BBS. I was (unsurprisingly) message base sysop, although I eventually learned enough to run much of the back end as well. Because the community was small, and many of us knew each other, we threw a pizza party at our house, for our users. Michael came over as part of that group, and I remember thinking along the lines, “gee, too bad I’m not single.” We became friends, and over the next nine months for so, I realize that the relationship I was in was not good for me (to say the least) so I ended that relationship and immediately started dating Michael. My parents weren’t happy with my jumping from one relationship to another. Most of my friends didn’t know quite what to think, except that my previous relationship hadn’t been very good for me. But they accepted it, because that’s what friends are for, and Michael and I have been together ever since.

Firefly, Farscape, or Battlestar Galactica?
Firefly. However, we still haven’t watched any more than the miniseries of Battlestar Galactica.

But I don’t think the order will change. The only show in competition with Firefly is Deep Space Nine. Now that’s a tough call for me.

What book do you read for comfort?

Well, it depends, partially on what I’ve read recently, and partially what I’m in the mood for. The first two books I’m likely to reach for are The Hobbit or The Complete Sherlock Holmes. Those have been my favorites for years. I think I reach for them when I want to get lost in a story.

After those come The Phoenix Guards by Steven Brust or Small Vices by Robert B. Parker. Those come up when I’m in the mood for entertaining writing.

The other books in the mix are “The World’s Best Folktales” by Joanna Cole or the entire Thieves’ World original series. Joanna Cole is good when I can’t concentrate, and Thieves’ World is good when I’m feeling particularly bleak.

Those are all books I can read over and over again, so what I choose really depends upon what I’m escaping from and what I want to escape to.

Exactly how many feet of snow will they have to have in hell before you drink Swallows Nest Soup?

I don’t know about feet of snow, but I’d have to be starving to death I’m pretty sure.

What do you have against cephalopods?

Cephalopods are fine, and in fact fascinating. I’m disturbed only by the uses to which some people put these creatures in their imagination. I mean really, beaks? You’ve can’t be serious.

If you won the lottery (for a buttload of money), would you: a) keep working, b) chill out for the rest of your life, or c) do charitable work?

Keep working. Even a buttload of money doesn’t buy health insurance. And I don’t do well with nothing to do. But I’d probably take a lot more time off. The thing that makes vacation is that it’s time away from something.

Had this been a real post, amusing anecdotes would have appeared here.
Well, in theory they would have been amusing.
All things considered, how about you just pretend I wrote something funny, and then we’ll be pretty much par for the course.

I AM smarter than my computer!

I can configure WordPress to do what I want it to do!

HA HA! HA HA!

Now if only everything would work….

I’ve already walked 2.75 miles by 10:00 AM.

I think it’s going to be another busy day.